…says continues to engage IDB, Norway

THE government has again committed itself to full transparency in determining the future of the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project, following accusations by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo that the issue is shrouded in secrecy. “It is not that there is no transparency and all of that information is in the public domain. Sometimes, I am amused with the way in which the Opposition operates on these things, seeking to get the public’s attention,” Cabinet Secretary Joseph Harmon told a post-cabinet media briefing Thursday.
Harmon has accused the Opposition Leader of taking an “anti-national” stance on the matter, given the fact that he (Jagdeo) wrote a letter to the Government of Norway on August 24, 2016 with regard to its concerns on the lack of inclusivity and transparency.
“We are in fact in engagement with Norway. We are in engagement with IDB. As I speak to you now, a team from the IDB is at the Ministry of Finance discussing these matters. This is one of the issues that will come up in the margins of the UN General Assembly meeting. These matters were elaborated upon in the National Assembly in a select committee where I sat and the Opposition were given full disclosure on all the matters they asked about Norway, about the Green Climate Fund, about the Amaila Falls [project] and it is clear that the decision that was taken was between the Government of Guyana and the Kingdom of Norway was that they would set up an independent assessor to determine whether in fact this is going anywhere,” Harmon clarified.
He said that Norway is still in the process of finalising an assessor. Norwegian company, Norconsult, was selected to review the financial model of the Amaila Falls Project, after which it will be determined whether the controversial project will go ahead.
The Guyana Chronicle had reported last year that Norway is keeping US$80 million of funding from its forest-saving deal with Guyana for the project, but the funds could be diverted to other clean-energy initiatives if the project is deemed impractical, Finance Minister Winston Jordan had said. The governments of Guyana and Norway had agreed that a “once-and-for-all” study should be done to determine the feasibility of the Amaila Falls Hydro Project. In August 2013, the developer of the project, Sithe Global, pulled out saying its development funds hinged on support from all political forces. The current coalition government,then made up of APNU and AFC as separate opposition parties, refused to support the project in the form it was presented, saying it would put the country under a severe debt burden and that there was no guarantee that power from Amaila would have been cheaper for Guyanese.